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Visitor Comments: 14

(11)
Anonymous,
April 11, 2014 10:52 PM

Wow, what truly inspiring video

Wow, what a truly inspiring video

(10)
Allwyn Nazareth,
April 11, 2014 2:06 PM

This is great video. Thank you so much I now feel the brightness of the moon. Never give up hope. There is always light at the end of a tunnell.

(9)
Shirah,
April 11, 2014 3:08 AM

Inspiring!

This message fills me with love for our Creator, who foresaw all we would suffer, and wanted to speak of all the bright goodness He has stored up for us as we await Messiah. How I need this day of joy and hope at the beginning of each month.

(8)
FR WILLIAM BARROCAS,
April 10, 2014 4:27 AM

I believe PASSOVER IS ONE OF ITS KIND OF GOD-GIVEN CELEBRATONS GIVEN TO HUMANS THRO THE JEWS WHOM GOD BLESS.

I LOVE TO LSTEN AGAIN AND AGAIN HE WELL-OREPARED VIDEO/AUDIO. IT HELS TO CONFIRM MY FAITH THAT WHEN GOD INTERVENES HE DOES SO POWERFULLY THAT INDEED ALL WILL ADMIT HE IS ONE-AND-ONLY AND THERE IS NONE ALIKE OR BESIDE HIM.

(7)
Anonymous,
April 9, 2014 11:27 AM

Truly inspiring.

(6)
Anonymous,
April 9, 2014 10:13 AM

thank you!

thank you so much! this video is just what i needed, as i am going through major challenges and close to despair. thank you for making this situation more bearable and inspiring hope.

(5)
lillian zack,
April 8, 2014 7:43 PM

tthankhe nicest and most meaningful addition to the Passover story. thank you

Chaim,
April 10, 2014 12:08 AM

We don't know how much really need wai

We don't know how much we need on another.

(4)
Anonymous,
April 8, 2014 5:45 PM

Perfect!

Amazing, inspiring, short, sweet and to the point and most of all, inspiring and sincere!! Thank you!!!

(3)
Avie,
April 8, 2014 9:00 AM

Public versus Personal redemption

Is there a difference between a public redemption and a personal one? The Klal, I would assume, is deserving of more devine intervention.

Oscar,
April 8, 2014 7:29 PM

Divine interventio

G'd has created us with all the power needed to make a better world. It's our mission not his to acomplish that. As for the question: where was G'd in the times of the Holocaust the answer is: Were was the man? We should never wait for his direct to make a better world. but use the power he gave us

(2)
Anonymous,
April 7, 2014 12:26 PM

great connection

between the slavery experience and the phases of the moon. Unfortnuately, we are in times where the world's light in overshadowed by dark times and dark forces and G0d's presence is uncertain. It is hard not to be depressed and doubtful if things will get better.

ERICK,
April 9, 2014 6:34 AM

OY VAY !

HASHEM IS ALWAYS WITH US ALL TODAY.ALWAYS & FOREVER !!!! SHALOM ALEICHEM

About the Author

Rabbi Tzvi Sytner grew up in Los Angeles, CA and earned his B.A. in Liberal Studies from Thomas Edison State College, a Masters in Education from the University of Bridgeport, and a Master's degree as a Marriage and Family Therapist at Touro University. He has delivered inspiring lectures worldwide, including South Africa, Australia, and of course Israel. While studying in Israel, Rabbi Sytner received his Rabbinic Ordination from The Jerusalem Kollel under Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits, and led Shabbos programs for over 1000 college students on Birthright. He currently has a popular video blog on Aish.com, titled, "Just Breathe" viewed by over 8,500 per month, and is a Rabbi at the Village Shul in Toronto, Canada.

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!